quote · Legacy record
Hardening by degrees, till double steel’d, Take leave of Nature’s God, and God reveal’d— Then laugh at all you trembled at before; And joining the freethinker’s brutal war. Swallow the two grand nostrums they dispense— That Scripture lies, and blasphemy is sense; If clemency, revolted by abuse Be damnable, then damn’d without excuse.
Hardening by degrees, till double steel’d, Take leave of Nature’s God, and God reveal’d— Then laugh at all you trembled at before; And joining the freethinker’s brutal war. Swallow the two grand nostrums they dispense— That Scripture lies, and blasphemy is sense; If clemency, revolted by abuse Be damnable, then damn’d without excuse.
Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
Meaning not yet available
An individual explanation has not yet been added. We do not substitute a generic description for an interpretation of these particular words.
Begin with source-checked readings and explanations ↗Attribution & collection notes
- Author or tradition
- William Cowper
Attribution: attributed - Country attributed
- Not established
A country attribution does not establish the earliest origin. - Historical period
- Approximate author period: c. 1765 AD · early modern
author lifetime midpoint (1731–1800)
An author lifetime, approximate period or collection date is not necessarily the date when these words were first written or spoken. - Recorded source
- A Cyclopædia of Sacred Poetical Quotations (catalogued1888) (1888 AD)
Page 39 · printed citation: Cowper · subject: ATHEISM
A collection's publication date can be later than the words it records.